Alert Me Administrator Documentation

Alert Me – Create Alert

The Create Alert experience allows users to define alerts for SharePoint lists and libraries that monitor changes, apply conditions, and deliver notifications based on business needs.

Alerts are owned by the individual user who creates them and are evaluated by the Alert Plus backend services to ensure scalability and reliability across the tenant.

Creating Alerts from the Item Context Menu

In addition to creating alerts from the Alert Me web part, users can now create and manage alerts directly from a specific SharePoint item.

This feature is available for:

SharePoint list items
Documents
Folders

When Item Level Alerts are enabled, two Bamboo options are available from the item context menu:

Create Bamboo Alert
Manage Bamboo Alerts

These options allow users to create an alert for a specific item, document, or folder without first navigating through the full list or library-level alert setup.

The Create Alert workflow consists of four steps, each described below.

Item Level Alerts

Item Level Alerts allow users to create an alert on a specific list item, document, or folder.

This is useful when a user only needs to monitor activity on a single item rather than an entire list, library, folder, or view.

Users can create an Item Level Alert in two ways:

Option 1: Use the Item Context Menu

The user clicks the ellipses (“...”) next to an item, document, or folder.

From the context menu, the user selects:

Create Bamboo Alert

The alert creation experience opens with the selected item already scoped as the alert target.

This method supports:

List rows
Documents
Folders

Option 2: Use the Ribbon Bar

The user selects a single item using the checkbox, then selects the Bamboo alert option from the ribbon bar.

Important:
Only one item may be selected when creating an Item Level Alert from the ribbon bar.

If multiple items are selected, Alert Me will not allow the user to create an alert using this method.

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Step 1: Choose Alert Trigger

Step 1 defines what activity causes an alert to fire.

Important: The experience in Step 1 differs depending on whether the alert is created on a SharePoint List or a Document Library.

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Step 1 for SharePoint Lists

When creating an alert on a List, the experience remains unchanged.

Users select the Event (Trigger Condition) directly.

Available Trigger Options

• Item is Created
• Item is Modified
• Item is Created or Modified
• Item is Deleted
• Item Meets a Condition
• Anything Changes (Created, Modified, or Deleted)

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Step 1 for Document Libraries

When creating an alert on a Document Library, Step 1 includes additional configuration options to better control alert scope and behavior.

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Alert Type

Defines the scope of items being monitored.

Options:

• Items in This Folder
  Alerts apply only to items in the selected folder.
• Items in This Folder and Subfolders
  Alerts apply to items in the selected folder and all nested subfolders.

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Alert Behavior

Defines what type of changes should trigger alerts.

Options:

• Items (Default)
  Triggers alerts for all matching items (documents and folders).
• Selected Items (Trigger alerts for items)
  Used when alerts are scoped to specific selected items.

• Folders Only (Ignore Contents of the Folder(s))
  Triggers alerts only when folders themselves change, ignoring items within them.

  Use Case:
  Useful when monitoring folder-level changes only, such as:

  • New folders being created
  • Folder structure changes

  Without generating alerts for every file inside the folder.

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Event (Trigger Condition)

Defines what type of activity generates the alert.

Options:

• Item is Created
• Item is Modified
• Item is Created or Modified
• Item is Deleted
• Item Meets a Condition
• Anything Changes (Created, Modified, or Deleted)

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Important Behavior Notes (Document Libraries)

• In document libraries, items include both documents and folders.

• When a document inside a folder is updated, SharePoint also updates the folder metadata.

  To prevent duplicate alerts:

  Alert Plus suppresses the additional alert that would normally be triggered for the folder update.

• When a folder itself is created, an alert will be triggered.

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Set Recurring Alert

• Yes / No selection
• Default: No

No (Default)

• The alert fires once when the condition is met
• After firing, the alert will not send again unless the condition changes and is met again

Yes

• The alert will continue to run on a recurring schedule
• Alerts will be sent again as long as the condition remains true

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Re-Trigger Every (Days)

This option appears only when Set Recurring Alert = Yes.

• Specifies how often the alert should re-run
• Value is entered in days (Minimum 1 Day)
• Timing is calculated from the last time the alert was sent

Behavior

• While the condition remains true, the alert will be sent again after the selected number of days
• This is ideal for recurring reminders tied to long-running conditions

Example

Notify me every 7 days while a task remains overdue

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Step 2: Filter Conditions (Optional)

Filter Conditions allow users to refine which items actually trigger alerts.

• Conditions are optional for all trigger types
• Item Meets a Condition requires at least one filter condition
• There is no limit to the number of conditions that can be added

Condition Structure

Each condition consists of:

1. Column or Metadata Field
   The SharePoint column or metadata to evaluate.
2. Boolean Operators
   This section lists all supported filter operators by column type. Operators are presented in plain English as users see them in the UI.

Text Columns
Used for single-line text, multi-line text, and calculated text fields.

Supported operators

• Equals
  The column value exactly matches the entered text.
• Does Not Equal
  The column value does not match the entered text.
• Starts With
  The column value begins with the entered text.
  
  Note: Contains and Ends With are not supported in this release due to Microsoft Graph API limitations.
   

Number Columns
Used for number, currency, and calculated numeric fields.

• Equals
  The column value is exactly equal to the entered number.
• Does Not Equal
  The column value is not equal to the entered number.
• Greater Than
  The column value is higher than the entered number.
• Less Than
  The column value is lower than the entered number.
• Greater Than or Equals
  The column value is higher than or equal to the entered number.
• Less Than or Equals
  The column value is lower than or equal to the entered number.

Date Columns

Date columns use relative date options instead of static dates.

There is no date picker in the current release. All date-based filtering is evaluated relative to the date the alert runs, ensuring alerts remain accurate over time without manual updates.

Supported Relative Date Options

The following relative date options are supported for Date-type fields:

• Is on the day the alert runs (Today) Matches items with a date equal to the day the alert is evaluated.
• Is within the next 2 days (from run date) Matches items dated today through two days after the alert run date.
• Is within the next 5 days (from run date) Matches items dated today through five days after the alert run date.
• Is within the next 7 days (from run date) Matches items dated today through seven days after the alert run date.
• Is within the next 30 days (from run date) Matches items dated today through thirty days after the alert run date.
• Is before the run date (Past dates) Matches items with dates earlier than the day the alert runs.

These relative date options are designed to cover the most common alert scenarios—such as overdue items, upcoming deadlines, and expiring documents—without requiring manual date entry or ongoing maintenance.

Admin Notes

• All date comparisons are evaluated at runtime
• Results automatically shift as time progresses
• Relative date options apply only to Date / Date Time fields

Person / User Columns
Used for Person or Group fields.

Supported operators

• Is
• Is Not

Condition Value Input

• Users are selected using the SharePoint People Picker
• Results are sourced from the site’s SharePoint user directory
• This ensures clean, permission-aware, and familiar user selection
   

3. Condition Value
   The value to compare against.

Condition Value Dynamic Inputs

The Condition Value input adapts based on the selected column type:

• Text / Number
  Free-text or numeric input
• Person / User
  SharePoint People Picker with type-ahead and directory-backed results. Only users available within the current SharePoint site collection context will appear in the picker.
• Date
  Users select from predefined, high-value relative date options (e.g., Today, Is Within, Is Past)
  
  Tip: Relative date options ensure alerts remain accurate over time without requiring manual updates.
   

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Step 3: Delivery Options

Delivery Options define how and when notifications are sent. This section is dynamic and changes based on the selected alert type.

Schedule

Users select the alert type from the Schedule dropdown:

• Send Immediately
• Daily / Weekly Summary

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Send Immediately Alerts

Send Immediately alerts are designed for time-sensitive notifications.

How they work

• Alerts are evaluated and sent every 15 minutes
• Each triggering event generates its own notification
• Alerts retrigger for each qualifying event

Configuration Options

• Delivery
  • Send via Email (current option)
  • Additional delivery channels such as SMS and Microsoft Teams may be supported in a future release.
• Status
  • Enabled or Disabled
  • Allows alerts to be paused without deletion
• Recipients
  • To: Prefilled with the logged-in user, editable
  • CC: Optional additional recipients separated by “,”
• Alert Subject
  • Supports static text and dynamic tokens
• Alert Body
  • Rich text editor for formatted content
  • Supports tokens

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Daily / Weekly Summary Alerts

Summary alerts consolidate multiple alert events into a single notification email.

How they work

• Alerts run on selected days at a specific time
• All alerts triggered since the last run are included
• Helps reduce alert volume while maintaining visibility

Configuration Options

• Time
  • Specifies when the summary is sent.
  • Important: Initial release supports configuring time on the hour only for Summary Alert to fire.
• Days
  • Flexible selection:
    • Daily (all days)
    • Weekly (single day)
    • Weekdays only (Monday–Friday)
    • Custom combinations

Summary Email Structure

• Header
  • Appears once at the top
  • Provides context for the alert
  • Summary alerts Header section supports a limited set of Item, List, and Site tokens.
• Body (Repeated Section)
  • Repeats for each alert event since the last run
  • Full token set provided.
• Footer
  • Appears once at the end of the email

  • Summary alerts Footer section supports a limited set of Item, List, and Site tokens.

    WYSIWYG Alert Editor

    Alert Me now includes a WYSIWYG editor for composing alert email content.  The editor allows users to apply advanced formatting directly within alert emails without writing HTML.

    The WYSIWYG editor is available in:

  • Alert Header

  • Alert Body

  • Alert Footer

    Users can use the editor to improve the readability and formatting of alert notifications, including richer layout and styled content.  For Summary Alerts, the editor applies to each supported section of the summary email:  

    Header appears once at the top of the summary email
    Body repeats for each alert event
    Footer appears once at the bottom of the summary email

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Token Support

Recipient Tokens (To / CC Fields)

Recipient fields support dynamic values using Person / User column names enclosed in curly brackets.

Example:

{TaskOwner}

Key Notes

• Tokens must match the internal field name

• There is no dropdown selector in the current release

• Tokens can be discovered by inserting them into the email body and copying the generated format

• Multiple tokens and email addresses may be combined, separated by commas

• If a referenced field is empty, no recipient will be added for that token

Recipient tokens are resolved at runtime when the alert executes.

Important Note: Deleted Items and Token Behavior

When an alert is triggered on Item is Deleted:

• SharePoint removes the item and its associated data immediately.
• As a result, dynamic tokens will not contain item data in the alert.

Example:
Fields such as Title, Created By, or custom columns will appear empty in the notification.

This is a limitation of the SharePoint platform and not specific to Alert Plus.

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Step 4: Alert Details

The Alert Details step captures information used to identify and manage alerts over time.

Alert Name

• User-defined name
• Sortable and searchable in Manage My Alerts

Best practice

• Use descriptive names that include the list and purpose

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Alert Description

• Explanatory text
• Helps users understand the alert when reviewing it later

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Automatically Stored Metadata

• List URL
  • Automatically saved with the alert
  • Enables sorting and grouping alerts by list or library

This improves visibility and makes it easy for users to audit alerts tied to specific locations.

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Saving the Alert

• Alerts can be saved as Enabled or Disabled
• Enabled alerts begin processing immediately
• Disabled alerts are stored but do not send notifications until enabled